Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Well, I got some new thread today. All of the grey/gray threads from Signature. I like machine quilting with Signature 100% cotton thread....it is a thicker weight and makes the quilt look "finished" to me. I purchase it at Kingsmen Quilting...very affordable.

I also made two blocks for the Moda 1800 star blocks challenge...And Ryan got new glasses and a crisp new buzz cut. He likes his hair short...military short. He is growing up! Next year he will be in 6th grade and he is so excited about it!!!

Anyhow, tomorrow is the MQG meeting. Good times here in Las Vegas. It was a sunny and hot 80+ degress outside today--I needed to run the A/C in my car after school! LOL....Happy Quilting!

Sunday, March 27, 2011

My Mom didn't teach me how to embroider so this is my "improv" embroidering...LOL! One of my problems on the first one was turning it inside-out and trying to get nice corners. ?? So I just decided to go with the pinking shears. Isn't "raw edged" modern??

Done is good. Now on to something else! I'm putting aside my Tortilla Soup quilt for a while....I find the linen hard to deal with and I need a break from it. ??? What now?

Monday, March 21, 2011

You know, like any good hoarder quilter, I have way too much stuff in my stash. I need to clear some room from my storage cabinet so I've decided to part with my selvage collection. This is the back story...

Last summer I got the book Quilts from the Selvage Edge (which I am also including in the giveaway). I was so inspired that I went through my entire stash and cut off the selvages from all my fabric, including about an inch of the fabric as well. This was helpful because I ended up donating a ton of older fabric to a local high school Home Ec. teacher. Anyhow, I fully intended to make a really awesome selvage quilt, or accessories, or something like that. But it didn't happen, and I'm doubting that it will ever happen, so I figured someone out there might have some extra motivation but be lacking the necessary selvages.

To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment. I'll pick the winner on Friday and mail out a big box of selvages to some lucky reader!!! Good luck!

Sunday, March 20, 2011

This week I have been sewing and trimming 200 HST from my Gypsy Bandana fabric and some linen I recently purchased. I've never worked with linen before but have always admired quilts that incorporated a little linen for texture. This is what I learned: it is harder to work with...harder to cut, harder to press, etc. And when I picked up a square of linen it felt like I was picking up a fresh corn tortilla--thick and weighty. Thus, the name of the quilt.

I added in a few aquas and some scraps from my stash. I'll let you know how it progresses....

Sunday, March 6, 2011

This week I put together the blocks that we made at the Modern Quilt Guild meeting last week. ;-D Don't they look nice? Kate Spain's Central Park and Kona Snow...

My plan is to do some diagonal line quilting. My special attachment that I ordered that was supposed to fit "all walking feet" and provide a guide for straight line sewing didn't fit my walking foot. So I'm back to mixing together parts from other sewing machines and taping them to my walking foot to provide a guide of sorts. At the local quilt show yesterday and sewing machine dealer in town told me that the walking foot for the Juki does have a guide available? But I don't believe him. I went to his store last year to look at the Juki and he was so shady that I ordered online instead. I fear he is just trying to get me to come back to his store in the hopes of selling me something else (the strategy he tried last time). But if anyone knows that Juki really does make a walking foot with an attachable guide, please let me know! It is the one drawback that drives me nuts on this machine...;-D

We went to the local Quilt Show yesterday. Sadly, it wasn't the quality show that is was five or six years ago. There were about half as many quilts....lots of vendors. It seems that fewer people are entering the show? Or they aren't letting as many people enter? I'm not sure. Several years ago, when I was a longarmer, I loved to look at the quilting on the quilts! Now, not so much interested in the quilting as I am in the piecing. What a turnaround....Anyhow, I get my Flickr online quilt show every morning with my coffee so I'm OK for inspiration!! Happy quilting.....